iVolunteer
An app for high-school students to seek and apply for clearly defined volunteer opportunities that meet their unique needs and expectations.
The Context
This was a 2 week challenge to design an inclusive experience helping high school students seeking volunteer opportunities. We went through the design thinking process and delivered a high-fidelity interactive prototype designed in Adobe XD.
Our submission was awarded with an honourable mention
Project Type
Design Challenge
Collaborator
Adobe + Amazon Design Jam
Timeline
2 Weeks
Platform
Mobile
Team Members
Anne Feldman
Kira Fullerton
My Contributions
As part of a 2 member team I worked to research the space, define the problem, create a persona, define needs, ideate, low and high fidelity prototyping.
Project Type
Design Challenge
Duration
2 Weeks
Platforms
Mobile
Tools
Adobe XD
Team Members
Anne Feldman
Kira Fullerton
My contributions
As part of a 2 member team I worked to research the space, define the problem, create a persona, define needs, ideate, low and high fidelity prototyping.
The Design Challenge
Teams were given a design prompt:
Design an inclusive app experience for high school students looking for opportunities to fulfil community service hours or volunteer to help their local community, no matter what their background or ability.
The Solution: iVolunteer
An app for high-school students to seek and apply for clearly defined volunteer opportunities that meet their unique needs and expectations.
Research
What problems are high-school students facing?
Secondary Research
We began by conducting secondary research to better understand the problem space. We were able to find a Canadian study conducted about the challenges faced by volunteers with disabilities.
Primary research
We surveyed 16 students and recent grads across Canada and the US to better understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. We also conducted interviews with a high school student with special needs and an accessibility services advisor at UofT.
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis was conducted to understand the current market space.
Research analysis
Our Process
We consolidated qualitative data from our interviews and surveys into an affinity diagram to visualize common themes in the data
Research analysis
What Problems are Students Facing?
It can be difficult finding a volunteering opportunity
40% of participants have previously had trouble finding a volunteer opportunity
Important Factors when seeking opportunities
Location, Scheduling, and Activity Type were the 3 most important factors for students when seeking a volunteering opportunity
Frustrations experienced by students:
Lack of Information
Unfamiliarity
Inability to find suitable roles
Role doesn't meet needs/preferences
Difficulty of Role
Students are not as independents as adults and require additional planning when committing to a volunteer opportunity. When roles information is clear or unavailable online, students do not feel prepared for the opportunity, and are faced with a role that may differ greatly from their expectations.
Defining the Problem:
Students are not as independents as adults and require additional planning when committing to a volunteer opportunity.
When role information is clear or unavailable online, students feel unprepared for the opportunity, and may step into a role that may differ greatly from their expectations.
This helped us develop a "how do we" statement:
How can we help high school students seek and apply for clearly defined volunteer opportunities that meet their unique needs and expectations?
Empathizing with Students
Empathy Map
To empathize with students through the design journey we began by using our research data to create an empathy map, showing what a student might experience as they go through the volunteering search and application experience.
Meet Vanessa the Volunteer
We then converged to create the persona of Vanessa the Volunteer, and identified her needs, goals, and frustrations:
As-Is Scenario
We used these artefacts to map out Vanessa’s current journey as she searches and applies for a volunteering opportunity, and voted on the areas where we felt we could improve Vanessa’s experience.
So, what does Vanessa need?
Vanessa needs a way to quickly check schedule conflicts so that she can ensure her volunteer shifts don't conflict with school/life commitments
Vanessa needs a way to find role information so that she can determine whether the role is right for her needs.
Vanessa needs a way to see who is going to the volunteer opportunity so that she can feel safe and comfortable.
Vanessa needs a way to know the location and time of the event so that she can figure out logistics.
Ideation
We then began generating ideas for ways to fulfil Vanessa’s needs, and grouped them based on the impact we think each will have.
Our Solution
Specifying students’ unique needs
A simple onboarding experience that let students set their needs and preferences off the bat
Access to information
Important information about the volunteer opportunity is clearly displayed and easily accessible.
Easy Apply
Students can easily applying for an opportunity, and contact a volunteer coordinator at their desired organization in case they have further questions.
Forming Connections
Students can see who is attending the event and are able to connect with peers and event organizers, forming valuable connections.